1. Field
Apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to an apparatus for controlling transport of a heavy load on a transport vehicle, and a method of controlling transport of a heavy load, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for controlling transport of a heavy load where a transport vehicle can smoothly transport the heavy load such as a rotor blade of a wind power generator, which has a high weight and a large length, without collisions or interferences by controlling movement of the heavy load according to a facility around a road or a peripheral environmental condition in a process of transporting the heavy load on the road with the transport vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, a wind power generator refers to a power generation apparatus which converts a kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy by rotating a plurality of rotor blades. The wind power generator is installed at a site where high-quality wind power resources exist. That is, there are no buildings or trees higher than wind generation equipment which will likely interfere with a high speed wind, and there are no inhabitants or businesses that can be influenced in the case when a wind power tower falls down.
Thus, the wind power generator is installed in the mountains or the ocean-side that is far from dwelling sites, and a rotor blade of the wind power generator has a length of several to several tens of meters to maximally utilize the wind power resources. The rotor blade is not directly manufactured in the installation site, but is manufactured at a separate manufacturing site which is remotely located from the installation site and is transported to the installation site by a specialized vehicle so as to be assembled in the installation site.
In order to transport the rotor blade, it is very important to identify information on a peripheral environmental condition such as a road situation, a slope of a road, a radius of rotation of the road, a facility around the road, a bridge, and a tunnel to determine whether the vehicle can pass through the road.
An example of such a technology is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0561590 (hereinafter, referred to as ‘prior document 1’) entitled “Transport Vehicle for Rotor Blade of Wind Power Turbine”. Prior document 1 provides a transport vehicle for a rotor blade of a wind power generator in which a traction truck and a trailer are connected to each other by a rotor blade during the transport of the rotor blade, and the traction truck and trailer have a holding unit and/or an accommodation unit for the rotor blade. The rotor blade can be rotated about an axis and a driving unit for rotation of the rotor blade is provided in the traction truck and/or the trailer.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010-0168960 (hereinafter, referred to as ‘prior document 2’) discloses a transport vehicle that transports a turbine blade. The transport vehicle includes a blade connection apparatus including a tilting unit to connect an end of a blade to the transport vehicle. An end of the blade faces a front side of the transport vehicle.
However, according to the technology of prior document 1, since a body of the rotor blade is rotated to pass through a lower side of a bridge and the like, the rotor blade cannot be rotated in a height-wise direction and a widthwise direction thereof, that is, the rotor blade cannot be moved upward, downward, leftward, and rightward, so it is difficult to utilize the technology in a condition in which many facilities exist around a road.
Further, according to the technology of prior document 2, although a turbine blade is erected by using a tilting unit after reaching a final destination, it may collide or interfere with facilities around a road during transport of the turbine blade.